


empty rooms, shuttered and dark

by Wildehack (Tyleet)



Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Genre: F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-25
Updated: 2014-10-25
Packaged: 2018-02-22 12:27:59
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 516
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2507831
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tyleet/pseuds/Wildehack
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>If we could live without passion, maybe we'd know some kind of peace.</p>
            </blockquote>





	empty rooms, shuttered and dark

**Author's Note:**

> redcheekdays on tumblr gave me the prompt "a detective!buffy au with angelus the serial killer, sending her drawings & getting in her head." DONE.
> 
> Please do not copy or repost my work on any other site, even if it is credited under my name. I do not give permission to have my work hosted on any site except AO3.

Giles called Buffy first, which is how she got access to the crime scene before the cops from the 911 call even showed.   
  
The drawing was neatly pinned to the pillow. Jenny was lying beside it, tucked under the covers. There was a careful dusting of gold shadow on her eyelids, and dark lipstick on her mouth. Buffy thought distantly that it didn’t quite suit her. She supposed it was the artist’s touch. 

Kate found her upstairs, photographing everything she could see with hands that only shook a little. Buffy realized there were blue and red lights flashing in through the window, that she could hear movement downstairs and harsh voices outside.   
  
"Shit, Summers," Kate said, and dragged her out of the room so it could be processed. Buffy found herself on the couch next to Giles, orange shock blankets draped around both their shoulders, but it was far too late. She took quiet advantage of the confusion to back up her photos to the cloud before anyone thought to take her phone.   
  
"I’m gonna get him," she told Giles softly. "I promise. I’m gonna get him."    
  
"Oh yes," he said in a thin, stretched voice, but he didn’t look at her. She wasn’t honestly sure he’d heard.   
  
Eventually Kate came downstairs, the drawing neatly bagged. “Is this you?” she demanded, taking Buffy aside.   
  
"Yeah," Buffy said, swallowing hard. There was no use arguing. He was a good artist. It was a good likeness. "Yeah, that’s me." 

 She had posed for it, only a month ago, naked except for a sheet. He’d sat cross-legged at the foot of the bed, sketching her in with soft lead, smiling up at her as he worked. She had watched him delicately smudge a shadow into the paper, watched him blow away the residue with his sweet curved mouth, and she’d thought it was romantic. She’d asked him if she could keep it. “Let me think about it,” Angel had told her lightly. 

Jenny’s neck was broken, her head resting at an impossible angle. She guessed he’d thought about it.   
  
"Shit," Kate said again. Her fingers went around Buffy’s arm, gripping tight. It helped her to focus, a little. "Listen. You need to stay as far away from this as possible, okay? No more Nancy Drew stuff. You need to keep yourself safe."   
  
"I’m a licensed private investigator," Buffy said mechanically. "You can’t tell me what I can and can’t look into."   
  
"Yes I can," Kate said, giving her arm another gentle squeeze. "I’m the police, remember?"   
  
Buffy looked over her shoulder to Giles on the couch. He was chalk-white, and his face was oddly slack. Angel had done this. He’d done it with his hands. She was wearing the necklace he’d given her, she realized suddenly, and the ring. It took her a couple tries to yank it off, and Kate had to help her with the ring.   
  
"Hey," Kate said, her voice low. "It’s okay."   
  
"No," Buffy said. "It’s not." She looked at Giles again, felt her promise sitting cold and deadly in her throat. "Give me time." 


End file.
